Laker Film Room Archives - Forum Blue And Gold

Laker Film Room Podcast: The Dust Settles

Darius Soriano — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 14:15:36 +0000

With the signing of Michael Beasley to a 1-year deal and Travis Wear to a 2-way contract, the Lakers roster is to its capacity. So, what better time than now to take a step back and look at the full roster that the front office has built.

With that, in this episode of the Laker Film Room Podcast, Pete and I discuss the final roster construction by viewing it through the lens of it being a Magic Johnson team and what his specific vision for a roster might entail. Does this Lakers roster fit that mold?

Later we also get into what issues we might think arise with this roster and whether those are real things to worry about or if they’re not too much a cause for concern. We discuss the assortment of strong personalities, the number of players on one-year deals, whether this team will be able to defend at the level it will need to, and how the higher stakes and expectations that come with this year will impact them.

We also get into Luke Walton and how his style as a coach fits this specific roster. We talk about the importance of him building a partnership and being in alignment with LeBron and how they’ll have to work in tandem to manage a locker room full of guys who will likely deserve more minutes than they’ll actually be getting.

All in all, I really enjoyed this one. Hope you do too. Give the full episode a listen below.

If you enjoy the Laker Film Room podcast, please subscribe, and rate and review in iTunes. Also, if you want to support the work we do here at Forum Blue and Gold, please consider donating via Paypal or supporting us monthly via Patreon.

The post Laker Film Room Podcast: The Dust Settles appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Laker Film Room Podcast: Summer League Recap (and that LeBron guy)

Darius Soriano — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 19:15:18 +0000

In the latest episode of the Laker Film Room Podcast, Pete and I discuss the Lakers summer league run which ended with a loss in the championship game on Tuesday night.

First, we talk about how this team competed during summer league and how it’s reflective of the bigger culture the organization is trying to build. We then move on to individual player analysis…

Specficially, we dive into the development of Josh Hart and how the skills he showed as a go-to scorer in Vegas translate to his likely role with the main Lakers team and whether he is/should be challenging KCP for a starting spot. We then talk about Moe Wagner and what he showed, both positives and negatives, in Vegas before being shut down due to injury. We then talk Svi Mykhailiuk’s overall play and how he’s showing he’s more than just a shooter and looking like the Lakers latest draft day steal.

Lastly, throughout the pod we discuss LeBron James and how his presence fits within the overall structure of the organization, how the team can absorb him into the culture they’ve already built, and what accountability can/will look like for James on the defensive end of the floor.

Overall, this was a good discussion on the current state of the Lakers and we hope you’ll give it a listen below.

The post Laker Film Room Podcast: Summer League Recap (and that LeBron guy) appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Laker Film Room Podcast: What We’ve Learned from the Playoffs

Darius Soriano — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 21:15:37 +0000

In the triumphant return of the Laker Film Room Podcast, Pete and I discuss the NBA Playoffs, what we’ve learned about the teams and players to this point, and then zoom back in to the Lakers to examine if they’re on the right path to become a team that can make some noise in this environment.

Be it strategy or the current crop of young players on the roster, we dive into the construct of this team and what it values/the style it plays in order to get a better idea about the direction they’re going. When blending ideas of strategy and player skills/type, we go heavy on the philosophy of switching and take a hard look at Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, and Julius Randle — dissecting what ingredients they have in their current games to be high level contributors when playing this style, then looking at ways they can improve.

We also riff on Brandon Ingram’s development track, what type of player “type” the Lakers will (or, should) look for in the upcoming draft, and why Pete hasn’t wanted to record in forever. Overall, it was a really good and fun chat. I hope we can do it again some day.

The post Laker Film Room Podcast: What We’ve Learned from the Playoffs appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Brandon Ingram’s Development: Decision-Making

Pete Zayas — Tue, 15 May 2018 18:00:18 +0000

Brandon Ingram made good use of hesitation moves to get to the basket this past season, and improved his ability to finish when he got there. In Part 3 of this Laker Film Room series on his development, I examine the decisions that he needed to make in between, including his drive & kick improvement, the connection that he had with Brook Lopez, and his value as a playmaker in transition.

The goal of Laker Film Room is to provide Lakers fans with consistent, thoughtful content that helps you enjoy the game on a deeper level. I’m able to do that because I don’t work for a publication that demands that I cover the most sensational material, which typically gets the most views and clicks. As a result, I rely on the support of Lakers fans to help me produce my work. If you believe in what I do, please considering support my work on either Venmo or Patreon.

The post Brandon Ingram’s Development: Decision-Making appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Brandon Ingram’s Development – Finishing at the Rim

Pete Zayas — Fri, 11 May 2018 21:29:17 +0000

Brandon Ingram made a concerted to drive to the basket in his second season, and it paid off. In part two of this Laker Film Room series on his development, I take a look at how he improved at jumping off of one foot, absorbing contact, and extending around the basket, as well as the next steps that will take this part of his game to yet another level.

The post Brandon Ingram’s Development – Finishing at the Rim appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Lakers Draft Workouts: Shake Milton, Chimezie Metu, Allonzo Trier

Pete Zayas — Wed, 09 May 2018 18:59:21 +0000

Armed with the 25th and 47th picks in 2018 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers welcomed their second sextet of draft prospects to the UCLA Health Training Center on Wednesday, after hosting Keita Bates-Diop, Udoka Azubuike, Caleb Martin, Rob Gray, Jalen Hudson, and Jo Lual-Acuil, Jr. at the facility on Monday.

The Lakers allowed the media in for the tail end of the workout, beginning with around the world 3-point shooting, from both corners, both wings, and at the top of the key. Allonzo Trier was paired with Cody Martin, Shake Milton was paired with Chimezie Metu, and D.J. Hogg was paired with Lindell Wigginton. Milton was the star of this portion of the workout, demonstrating a quick, repeatable shooting stroke, although the set point on his jumper was a bit low.

The workout concluded with the “Lakers Mentality Drill”, which is akin to the suicide drills that your high school coach made you run…except at the end of an exhausting workout where you also have to make shots. They went two at a time, starting on the baseline on the two, separate full courts in the gym. They’d have to dribble from one end and make a layup, then back to the other end to do the same. The next time down, they’d shoot a pull-up jumper at the free throw line on both ends, before doing the same from the 3-point line on the next rotation. They repeated this circuit for 90 seconds, and if they missed, they’d have to grab their own rebound, which could travel a long way in this spacious facility. Trier won this drill, scoring 22 points.

“We heard Rob (Pelinka) talk at the end, and he was talking about how it’s about who’s gonna be able to take that tough, 4th quarter, late shot clock shot after you’ve already played a whole game and you’re pretty tired. Who’s gonna be able into their legs and knock down the shot.”, Milton said of this drill in the post-workout interview.

Shake Milton, Southern Methodist University, PG/SG

via GIPHY

Milton (21 years old, 6’6″, 205 lbs, 6’11” wingspan) handled many of the point guard responsibilities for SMU last season, making him an intriguing combination of size and playmaking ability. His best NBA skill, however, may be as a 3-point sniper. Milton shot over 42% from distance in each of his 3 seasons, and increased his free throw percentage (often a better predictor of 3-point success in the NBA) to 84.7% last year.

This versatility is something that Milton prides himself on.

“The way the NBA game is moving nowadays, it’s pretty much positionless basketball, so as long as you’re out there and you have a high IQ for the game and you know how to play you have a spot, and I think that’s how I fit in.”, Milton said.

The Lakers have let prospects know in no uncertain terms that they are building a defensive culture, and Milton’s more of a question mark on that end, despite some potential as a multi-positional defender. This, along with a lack of – well, shake off of the dribble – may lead to him falling into the late first or even the second round, but he has a rare combination of size, shooting, and ball-handling ability, which are many of the attributes that drew the Lakers to Kyle Kuzma last year.

Per 100 Possessions: 30.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 2.4 steals, 1.1 blocks, 60.6 TS%, +7.9 BPM

Chimezie Metu, University of Southern California, C

via GIPHY

Metu (21 years old, 6’10, 220 lbs, 6’11” wingspan) is an LA kid (Lawndale HS) who moved a few miles up the 110 freeway to become a stabilizing force for the USC Trojans over the course of his 3-year career. While his offensive skillset is relatively raw, he fits the mold of the modern, mobile 5 who can roll hard to the rim while finishing above it.

Despite some tools to work with on offense, his calling card is on the defensive end. He was a quality rim protector at USC, but feels like he show another aspect to his game on the next level.

“I think at SC I didn’t really get a chance to show that I can guard people on the perimeter, so I’m just gonna come out and try to show that in my team workouts.”, Mezu said.

The Lakers are bullish on what Thomas Bryant can bring to the table, perhaps as soon as next season, but Metu could be an intriguing option that provides a degree of defensive agility that the Lakers don’t have at the center position.

Per 100 possessions: 29.5 points, 14.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 3.3 blocks, 1.5 steals, 57.4 TS%, +6.1 RPM

Allonzo Trier, University of Arizona, SG

via GIPHY

Trier (22 years old, 6’5″, 205 lbs, 6’6″ wingspan) is a bucket-getting wing, who averaged 18.1 points per game for the Arizona Wildcats in his junior season. He has a fairly advanced repertoire as a scorer, contributing from all three levels as well as at the free throw line (86.5%), en route to a blistering 65.4 TS% on 23.9 USG%.

There are questions, however, about where he can positively impact the game outside of his scoring ability.

Per 100 possessions: 31.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.1 steals, 0.6 blocks, 65.4 TS%, +7.6 BPM

Cody Martin (SG, Nevada), D.J. Hogg (SF, Texas A&M), and Lindell Wigginton (PG, Iowa St.) completed the group, with Wigginton as perhaps the most intriguing of the three. He was the youngest of the six players who worked out on Thursday (20 years old), and also the best athlete amongst the perimeter players. He’s a bit of a shooting guard in a point guard’s body (6’2″, 188 lbs), but has a scorer’s instincts, and possesses some tools that could be cultivated in the G-League.

Neither Martin nor Wigginton have signed with an agent, so they have until June 11th to decide if they want to return to college.

The post Lakers Draft Workouts: Shake Milton, Chimezie Metu, Allonzo Trier appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Brandon Ingram’s Development – Hesitation Moves

Pete Zayas — Mon, 07 May 2018 18:00:06 +0000

With the departures of Lou Williams, D’Angelo Russell, and Jordan Clarkson over the span of 12 months, Brandon Ingram’s shot creation responsibilities increased to the point where an improvement in his ball-handling was a necessity.

In this installment of Laker Film Room, I take a look at how Ingram utilized hesitation moves to improve his effectiveness at driving to the basket, and what he can learn from Kevin Durant in order to take this element of his game to the next level.

The post Brandon Ingram’s Development – Hesitation Moves appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Lakers Podcast: Kawhi

Pete Zayas — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 20:38:48 +0000

The fracture in the relationship between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs has been one of the most mysterious sagas in the NBA in quite some time, with Leonard being cleared by the Spurs’ doctors as his own physicians disagree. This has fueled speculation that the rift is beyond repair, making the Los Angeles Lakers potential suitors for the services of the former Defensive Player of the Year and Final MVP.

In this episode of the Laker Film Room Podcast, Darius & I discuss what we know about this unusual situation, evaluate the trade value of the Lakers’ young players against their internal value, and gauge how aggressive the Lakers should be while approaching this unexpected opportunity amidst an environment where there will be no shortage of interest.

Shoutout to Rep the Squad for sponsoring this episode. Please visit them at https://www.repthesquad.com and enter the promo code “LFR” to get your first two weeks free.

The post Lakers Podcast: Kawhi appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Julius Randle’s Breakout Season

Pete Zayas — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 18:00:10 +0000

Julius Randle put the work in.

Some of the first images of the 2017 offseason were of a slimmed-down Randle Euro-Stepping with a medicine ball in an alley next to a gas station, a scene straight from the training montage of a 1980’s underdog movie. As the legend of Randle’s offseason grew, Darius & I had his personal trainer, Amoila Cesar, on the Laker Film Room Podcast to discuss the work that they put in together.

The result was Julius Randle’s breakout season. In this installment of Laker Film Room, I go through the last two seasons of Julius Randle’s game tape to identify how his reshaped body reshaped his game, his go-to moves in and look ahead to the next stages of his development.

The post Julius Randle’s Breakout Season appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.

Lakers Podcast: Who Should the Lakers Re-Sign?

Darius Soriano — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 20:22:27 +0000

In this episode of the Laker Film Room Podcast, Pete and Darius start to dive into the Lakers offseason by examining the team’s own free agents.

Specifically, the discussion focuses on several key questions:

Should the Lakers bring them back?
If so/not, why?
If so, what should the priority level be?
If so, what kind of contract should they offer and what is our individual “walk away” number that we would not bring the player back at.

We discussed every pending free agent on the roster and then even talked about the players with non-guaranteed or team options on their current contracts. That means we hit on Julius Randle, Brook Lopez, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Isaiah Thomas, Ivica Zubac, Travis Wear, Tyler Ennis, and Thomas Bryant.

This was a good discussion and, if I must say, was particularly interesting from the standpoint of how both of us view the current crop of young players already under contract and how their roles intersect with the free agents to be.

This, then, led to a nice back and forth on guys like KCP and (especially) Thomas who have positional overlap with young players who are clearly part of the team’s future and how that overlap in skill-set and role might play a part in the type of contract either of us would want the team to offer them (if any) and what the veteran’s FA contribution might look like on future iterations of the Lakers.

I hope you all enjoy this one as much as Pete and I did. Give the entire episode a listen below, and visit our sponsor at .https://www.repthesquad.com.

The post Lakers Podcast: Who Should the Lakers Re-Sign? appeared first on Forum Blue And Gold.